724 
OCT. io 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Rural New-Yorker, 
TIMES BUILDING. NEW YORK. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban llomei, 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, ) ED | TOR g 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD, f 
Rural Publishing Company: 
LAWSON VALENTINE, Praaidont. RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN, 
EDGAR H, LIBBY, Manager, OUT-DOOR BOOKS. 
Copyright, 1891, by the Rural Publishing Company. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1891. 
The request is made that all plants and 
seeds for trial or specimens for identification 
be sent to the Editor, River Edge, Bergen 
County, N. J. 
During the past season The N. R.-Y. has made 
crosses with the following tomatoes : Stone, Poto¬ 
mac, 400, Mitchell’s, Ignotum, Delair, La Crosse, 
California Pig, and some 20 of its own crosses and 
hybrids. 
Taking the average sized marketable potatoes 
of the Blush as grown in the R N.-Y. experiment 
plots this season, 279 weigh one bushel. It is well 
to remember such items, as they often assist in aid¬ 
ing one to determine how many seed potatoes will 
plant a given area. 
Tobacco dust made from refuse stems has been 
carefully tried at the Rural Grounds as a fertilizer 
the present season upon potatoes, the favorable re¬ 
sults of which will be made known later. Accord¬ 
ing to the analysis at hand, a fair article should 
contain 10 per cent of potash, three to four of nitro¬ 
gen and two to three of phosphoric acid. It would 
therefore be cheap at $20 per ton. But it cannot at 
present be bought for that. 
Governor Campbell and Mr. John Seitz make 
arguments in favor of Democracy and the People’s 
party in this issue. We wish Governor Campbell 
had given a fuller synopsis of his views, particu¬ 
larly as regards the details of the proposed tariff 
changes and the silver question. Next week Major 
McKinley will talk. W. I. Chamberlain represented 
The R N.-Y. in the interview with the latter, and 
he has prepared a statement of great interest. We 
here repeat our invitation to the Prohibition candi¬ 
date to enter this discussion. 
The Papaw fruit is now (September 25) ripening 
at the Rural Grounds before any frosts have oc¬ 
curred. The little tree bears freely, and average 
specimens measure four inches long, by six or seven 
inches around the middle, or a little over two inches 
in diameter. There are often from six to eight in 
a cluster, each fruit having about nine mahogany- 
colored, bean like seeds nearly an inch in length 
and inclining to a wedge shape, being somewhat 
flattened, and wider at one end than at the other. 
The flesh is quite as “custard”-like as any we have 
received from the South. 
Old files of The R. N.-Y. will show that we were 
among the first to try the Keiffer and—to condemn 
it for this climate. Our tree was cut back and upon 
the main branches a dozen seedling Japan pear 
scions were worked. This must have been seven or 
eight years ago. Not until this year have the seed¬ 
ling scions fruited and it is an interesting fact that 
all bear at once and heavily. Many of them are 
ripening now—but all are as hard as bricks and of 
rather small size. Experimenters, as a rule, have ( 
a rather hard row to hoe, but they hit it sometimes 
—perhaps as often as it is well they should. If sue- j 
cess in such work were easy, we should have less 
earnest, persevering workers. 
— ■ ~ < 
A learned college professor is about the worst ' 
man to teach little children their “A. B. C. ” be- 1 
cause he is apt to forget what it is “ not to know ” 
things that are simple to him. What educated mau 
can thoroughly put himself in the place of a little ( 
child who looks at an interesting picture without < 
the power to distinguish between one letter and ( 
another of the words that describe it ? Most of the i 
scientific men who talk about feeding cattle appear £ 
to forget that the majority of the farmers who 1 
really need help do not understand what “fat,” ( 
“ protein ” and “ carbohydrates ” mean. It is easy i 
enough to say they “ ought to know ’’—that is true, i 
and is all the more reason why these talks on feed- 1 
ing should be made as simple as possible. We i 
should be happy had we the ability to teach this £ 
matter in such homely and forcible shape that every € 
time one of our readers fed his stock he would re- c 
member that the “hay and grain” were only cer- f 
tain forms for conveniently carrying so much 1 
digestible food, so much water and so much stuff 9 
that the stock cannot possibly digest. We would f 
also have him know that it is easily within his e 
power to know how much real food he is feeding and c 
how much of this food is in excess and hence wasted. A 
The farmer loses money when he pays a high price 
for water or for waste, or when he feeds an ex- 
, cess of fat so that it goes to the manure pile, and 
we wish we could put the facts into such plain 
language that all could understand it. 
I. ---- - — 
The marvelous industrial activity in the South of 
late threatens soon to reduce that splendidly wooded 
section to the treeless condition of many of the old- 
time heavily timbered parts of the North. The Louis¬ 
iana mills, for example, have just made contracts 
for 50,000,000 feet of lumber to go to Germany, and 
r, 300,000,000 feet to be shipped to Texas : while a 
single mill to cut 50,000,000 feet a year is being built 
on the Gauley River, West Virginia-. North Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama and Florida are fast losing their 
i pine, oak and cedar, and along every timbered 
stream and river the sound of the woodman’s axe 
and the buzz of the circular saw tell of rapid denuda¬ 
tion. When the Southern forests have been cut 
| away, all of the timber regions east of the Rockies 
, will have been despoiled—and then ? 
L - ■ - 
Some 400 years ago Europe was struggling with 
a scourge of leprosy. People died of this horrible 
) disease by tens of thousands every year, and it was 
only by enforcing extraordinary measures that it 
was finally wiped out. Within the past 50 years 
Norway has gone through a similar experience. 
Year by year the loathsome disease has been spread¬ 
ing. It is no longer confined to Asia or Africa—it 
is here—brought by the Chinese, the Scandinavians 
or the Mormon converts from the Sandwich Islands. 
Within a month four cases iu the last stages of the 
disease have been found within four miles of the 
City Hall. How many more are afflicted with the 
disease in its milder forms cannot be known, but 
a knowledge of its sure and awful contagion proves 
that these men could not have lived as they did 
without spreading the disease. It is time now for 
the authorities to stamp this disease out. To delay 
is criminal. Common humanity demands prompt 
and effective action in the matter. Leprosy must 
not be permitted to thrive and spread in this country. 
The farmers of the country are loud in their de¬ 
mand for a change in the mode of electing United 
States Senators ; shouldn’t they also, even with 
greater reason, demand a change in the character 
of the Senate ? As at present constituted, it is by 
no means a representative of the people ; it is 
neither responsive to their will, nor responsible to 
them ; nor can they control it. Ten States con¬ 
taining more than half the population of the coun¬ 
try have but 20 of the 88 Senators ; while 10 other 
States containing less than one-thirtieth of the 
population, have 20 Senators. In the one case 20 
Senators represent 32,106,383 people ; in the other 
an equal number of Senators represent only 1,994,- 
535. What gross inequality that the 5,997,853 peo¬ 
ple of New York should have only the same number 
of representatives in the highest national legislative 
body as the 45,571 people of Nevada, or that the 
5,258,014 inhabitants of Pennsylvania should have 
no more influence on national legislation in the Sen¬ 
ate than the 69,702 inhabitants of Wyoming ! 
“It isn’t the scarcity of money in the country, but 
in the pockets of the people, that is the cause of the 
present financial distress,” said a prominent stump 
speaker the other day in Ohio, and straightway the 
hostile papers jeered at the truism. The entire 
wealth of the United States is estimated by the new 
census at $62,610,000,000, or about $1,000 for every 
mau, woman and child in the nation, against $870 
per capita 10 years ago. It is believed, however, 
that half this vast amount is in the hands of 30,000 
of the 63,000,000 of our population. Every dollar of 
the whole sum represents a day’s work at a dollar, 
and every dollar of it has been gathered in field or 
shop or mine at not much over that rate. Iu about 
30 years Jay Gould has accumulated, it is thought, 
about $100,000,000, or what a man toiling every 
working day in the week at the above rate, would 
earn in 33,333 years. How, then, did Gould and other 
plutocrats honestly secure their vast fortunes? Are 
the laws which not only permit, but encourage and 
aid such accumulations what all laws should be— 
for the benefit of the multitude? It isn’t the ac¬ 
cumulation of vast wealth in a country, but its gen¬ 
eral distribution that promotes the comfort and hap¬ 
piness of its people. 
In no other State in the Union is the political 
campaign so fierce as in Louisiana, although the 
election does not take place till spring. The main 
cause of the excitement is the attempt of the Louis¬ 
iana Lottery Company to debauch the State by | 
securing a renewal of its charter for 25 years for a 
bribe of $1,250,000 a year, or $35,000,000 in all. The 
offer is very tempting, as it is proposed to spend an- i 
nually $350,000 on the levees ; $350,000 for the sup- l 
port of the schools ; $150,000, for the support of pub- j 
lie charities ; $50,000 for pensions for Confederate 
veterans ; $100,000 for the improvement of the drain- i 
age of New Orleans, and $250,000 to lighten the gen¬ 
eral burden of taxation. In the division of public 1 
opinion political lines are disregarded and the op- 1 
posing parties are ranged under the names of Pro- ] 
Lottery and Anti Lottery, or rather Pros and Antis. < 
The Antis are making by far the greater show of 1 
force, and embrace some of the ablest political lead- * 
ers, including Governor Nichols. The clergy of all i 
creeds are against the lottery infamy. The Farmers’ j 
Alliance has put an anti lottery plank in its plat- 
5 form, though a strong minority favor the measure. 
In the rural parishes a large proportion of the white 
[ voters are pledged “to fight to the bitter end the 
i hordes of gamblers and bribers of the Lottery Com¬ 
pany,” even at the cost of a revolution. Meanwhile 
the Pro Lottery faction are operating quietly under 
the leadership of astute tacticians who are aided by 
: thousands of paid lottery agents. They are espec- 
- ially successful in influencing the colored voters and 
are also able to secure the support of a large body 
of the white people, including the creoles. At pres- 
1 ent the indications are strongly in their favor. The 
lottery swindle, drawing a rich corruption fund 
from all parts of the country in spite of the recent 
national legislation against it, is energetic, shrewd, 
and unscrupulous in appealing to the meanest, most 
selfish and mercenary passions of the multitude. 
Should the measure be successful, it will go into 
history that Louisiana, bought from France in 
1803 for $15,000,000, was sold by its own people 90 
years afterwards to a set of rascally gamblers for 
$35,000,000, payable by installments. 
BREVITIES. 
What of the times ? 
The times are wo king right, boys, 
The light comes, the right comes 
With hope to you and me. 
Then siand fast, you and you, 
Let us dare to be true 
To the manhood that keepi men free. 
What of the men ? 
The men will come to lead, boys. 
The new men ! The true men ! 
The men with hearts of gold ! 
Let us show no white feather 
Hut let’s mar -h all together 
Till our own honest rights we hold. 
What of the farm ? 
The farm shall rule the world, boys 
And reach men! And teach men 
To strive for b tter things. 
So you men who are free, 
Teacn your brothers to see 
What a great hope the future brings. 
It takes muscle to “hustle.” 
Jack Frost seems lost this year! 
The irrigator should be temperate with his water I 
Door crack and straw stack cannot fat the steer’s back ! 
The quality of the sire is of more importance to the 
grade breeder than to the one who breeds full bloods 1 
The dregs of the well, which many of us are now drink¬ 
ing, need boiling. Heat gives health through death of 
“germs.” 
No man should live in a region where labor is cheap 
nnless he can manage the labor of others or is satisfied 
with low wages. 
If your ben sleeps one night too many on the tree and 
the frost geti one good nip at her comb, her egg business 
will be delayed a month. 
It is as foolish to try to successfully irrigate on rough 
ground as it is for a school tescher to try to make a 
student out of a child that has no home training. 
There’s one thing about this big problem of feed, I 
would have you remember just now. Feed dry corn or 
sorghum cane chopped into oits and you’ll give a sore 
gum to the cow. 
“Deacon” White, engineer of the late corn corner, 
went under, not because he couldn’t pay his debts ; but be - 
cause he couldn’t pay his bats. He’s now looking for the 
wretches who jumped on his corn. 
The first quench their thirst; the late wait. Why are 
some ahead ? Early out of bed ! Why are some last ? 
Chair holds them fast! He who shirks the heft of his 
work Is left. He comes out all right who does work In 
sight. 
A FARMER might better continue to use the old-fash¬ 
ioned hand i-cythe if the time saved by using the mower 
is to be wasted. It is very poor economy to save labor and 
time to be thrown away again, because the saving costs 
money. 
Old farmer Hewit started to do it, didn’t stop on the 
way, put in good licks; now. sir, he picks out his own 
seneme for play I Old farmer Jones felt In his bones, that 
he must stop and tell tales to the boys; few are his j oys— 
reckon he’ll have to sell. 
Fresh sawdust from pine and spruce might act as a 
positive injury, if heavily applied, directly ro “quick” 
soils because of the turpentine it contains. When used as 
an absorbent, however, and thoroughly charged with 
liquid manure, It becomes about the best medium for car¬ 
rying the wastes of the stable to the farm. 
Mr Miller’s statemmt about the dairy qualities of 
Hereford cattle will surprise many people. Mr. H. Bur- 
fitt, who has won prizes for cheese and butter In Eaglaud 
France and Denmark, states that his products were made 
from the milk of purebred Hereford cows, whose milk 
contained from five to six per cent of butter fat. 
The failure of the seed house of James Vick, of Roch¬ 
ester, N. Y., will be regretted by all who have had dealings 
with it. Its business has ever been conducted iu au honor¬ 
able way and no effort has ever been made to secure tra ie 
by the disreputible measures which a few other houses of 
the same class have adopted. An honorable failure is far 
more creditable than a discreditable success. 
The Old Colony Railroad Company has a monopoly of 
the railroad service In southeastern Massachusetts as well 
as in Rhode Island. Trains follow one another over its 
tracks in rapid succession and dangers from accidents are 
very great. The company early recognized the fact that 
drunken employees would ruin such a line. It has now 
gone further and p-omises to discharge all drinking men. 
No man who touches intoxicating liquor is considered a 
safe railroad man. The fact is that such a man is not safe 
anywhere. 
While Europe is opening its doors to the American hog, 
our next neighbor, Mexico, is putting up tbe bars against 
it. Tne new tariff there, which goes into force on Novem¬ 
ber 1. practically shuts the animal out, dead or alive. By 
rigidly prohibiting importation of hogs and hog products 
from this country, the Mexican government will be in a 
position to make more lineral concessions to us when 
negotiating with Secretary Blaine for a reciprocity treaty 
between the two countries. The American farmer, at any 
rate, will have an additional reason for desiring such a 
treaty. 
North Dakota’s wheat crop amounts to 50,000 000 
bushels, worth now, on an average, 80 cents per bushel, or 
in all, *40,000,000. Her population is about 2U) 000, so that 
the wheat crop alone, if all sold, would give $200 apiece to 
every man, woman and chill in the State. Thewheit 
crops on hundreds of farms are worth more than the 
farms could be sold for a year or two ago. Ocher crops are 
also fine aud abundant, while litre stock, and especially 
sheep, are rapidly increasiog in numbers. The average 
amount of currency in the entire country is only $24 per 
head ; are not the North Dokotans likely to have a dis¬ 
proportionately large share ? 
